Among the many tributes offered to Pope Benedict on the
occasion of his visit to the United States the most astonishing of all
was the tribute offered by Protestant Televangelist John Hagee, founder
and senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio,
Texas-astonishing because, in contrast with the comments of such
veteran televangelists as Billy Graham, who once publicly saluted Pope
John Paul the Great as "the conscience of the world", it was not so
long ago that Pastor Hagee was describing the Catholic Church as "a
false cult" and, if you please, the Apocalyptic "Whore of Babylon." Yet
in a recent issue (May 5th) of the national edition of The Washington Times Pastor Hagee
voiced great admiration for the moral message that Pope Benedict
brought to our shores and, via his address to the United Nations, to
the whole world. May I share Pastor Hagee's statement with you here,
with the reservation that I vigorously disagree with his impugning the
Catholic Church as such with the charge of anti-Semitism.
While the words and actions of certain churchmen in the past and even
in the present can be described correctly as anti-Semitic, the
Catholic Church itself in its official teaching has never contradicted,
nor could it ever contradict, Christ's assertion to the woman of
Samaria that "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22), and more
precisely that salvation
is from Christ Himself as the fulfillment of the Jewish Law and the
Jewish Prophets (John 4:25-26; cf. Matthew 17:3).
Herewith Pastor Hagee's tribute. And I am appending to his
tribute the even more astonishing apology offered by Pastor Hagee this
past Wednesday to the Catholic Church for his previous insults.

During his recent visit to the United States, Pope
Benedict XVI not only conducted Mass and met with the Catholic
faithful, but he made a series of public statements about the role that
our Judeo-Christian faith can play during these challenging times. As
an Evangelical Protestant I happen to disagree with Pope Benedict on
many issues of Christian doctrine and ritual. But when it comes to
his moral vision for America and the world I have one thing to say in
response to the Pope's visit. Amen!
I and many other evangelical leaders believe that our
faith must not be confined to our churches on Sunday momings. We
maintain that our Christian values and compassion can be powerful tools
for helping build a more just and humane nation. Pope Benedict thus
spoke for all of us when he said that "Any tendency to treat religion
as a private matter must be resisted" and called for Christian
participation "in the exchange of ideas in the public square."
The pope was recalling the history we all cherish when he cited George
Washington's Farewell Address to note that "religion and morality
represent indispensable supports of political prosperity."
The pope likewise voiced all of our concerns when he recognized the
threats posed by secularism and materialism not only to our morality
but to our happiness. As
people of faith, our concerns go well beyond the borders of our country.
After the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, we joined our Jewish brothers
in saying "Never Again!" For me, this commitment means never again
allowing the Jewish
people to be massacred or persecuted and [this commitment] thus helps
to motivate my strong support for the State of Israel. But we also take
from the Holocaust a
universal "Never Again!" which means that we must never again
allow genocide to be perpetrated against God's children anywhere in the
world. Thus
all of our hearts cheered when Pope Benedict stood before the United
Nations and stated so forcefully that when states fail to protect the
basic human rights of their citizens, "the international community must
intervene." Likewise, all people of faith applauded his comment
in the same speech that it is religion's
"recognition of the transcendent
value of every
man and woman" which provides the powerful source of our commitment to
resist genocide and terrorism. My
reaction to Pope Benedict's visit may surprise some who have
come to accept certain caricatures of my views of the Catholic Church.
But as I have noted from the start, my critics have ignored the real
point and strong emphasis of my words. I have indeed been quite zealous
about condemning the past anti-Semitism of the Catholic Church. But I
have been equally zealous in condemning Protestant anti-Semitism.
Furthermore, as I noted in my 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown," I have
long viewed Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI as partners in
this "righteous work" of overcoming our shared legacy of Christian
anti-Semitism.
For decades I have taught that we Christians need to
recognize that our roots are Jewish. As Christians we can only
understand ourselves if we understand the Judaism from which we sprang.
Pope
Benedict made this very important point when he visited the Park East
Synagogue in New York and shared that. "I find it moving to recall that
Jesus, as a young boy, heard the words of Scripture and prayed in a
place such as this."
With visits and words such as these, Pope Benedict is
continuing the important work of recognizing our enormous Christian
debt of gratitude to the Jewish people.
The world in which we live faces many difficult
challenges. In recent days, we read in our paper of increased
starvation due to higher food prices; of alienated youth planning to
bomb their fellow students; of Islamic militants actually bombing
innocents in Iraq and Israel; and about people so devoid of hope that
they end their own lives.
I believe that the message of the Bible and of
Judeo-Christian faith offers us timely answers to these problems. We were all inspired by
Pope Benedict's visit. It is my prayer that we will now follow his
example and look beyond our differences to see that when it comes to
the great challenges of our times, people of faith have much in common.

Reverend John Hagee, the evangelical pastor... wrote a
letter of apology to Catholics Tuesday, expressing "deep regret" for
inflammatory remarks that include accusing the Roman Catholic Church of
supporting Adolf Hitler.
"Out of a desire to advance greater unity among Catholics
and Evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my
deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful," Mr.
Hagee wrote.
The letter was addressed to William Donohue, president of
the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and one of Mr.
Hagee's biggest critics. Mr. Donohue accepted Mr. Hagee's apology,
saying "the Catholic League welcomes his apology. What Hagee has done
takes courage and quite frankly I never expected him to demonstrate
such sensitivity to our concerns."'